Preparation and Component Characterization of Nd-Fe-B Reference Materials

In this study, a series of Nd-Fe-B reference materials for rapid testing were prepared. The content of various elements in Nd_aR_bM_cFe_100-a-b-c-xB_x (R includes La, Ce, Gd, Ho, Co, Dy, Tb, Pr; M includes Nb, Zr, Al, Cu, Ga) are: a = 8 ~ 27 wt%, b = 0 ~ 10 wt%, c = 0 ~ 2 wt%, x = 0 ~ 1.6 wt%. ICP-OES analysis results show that these Nd-Fe-B reference materials are homogeneous. The standard deviation (SD) of results tested by ICP-OES in three different laboratories for confirming the standard values is less than 0.05% while the element content is equal to or less than 1 wt%, the relative standard deviation (RSD) is less than 5% while the element content is more than 1 wt%. These reference materials were used to establish a rapidly quantitative testing method by X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (XRF). It was shown that the composition characterization results by XRF are close to the results by ICP-OES and the comparison results by other laboratories (RSD <; 4%). And the RSD of the precision on XRF is less than 1.5% (n = 11). All the data proved that the rapid method by XRF was accurate and stable. Meanwhile, the testing time for one Nd-Fe-B sample by XRF (about 15 minutes) is shorter obviously than that by ICP-OES (about one day). This rapid quantitative testing method can be applied in Nd-Fe-B industrial production to control product quality and realize online analysis for saving time.